Comments from the pros

We're proud to have such writers as Jim Thomas, Robert Olen Butler, Robert J. Sawyer, and Wes Craven use our product. Nothing gives us a thrill like reading a book or watching a movie that was created with the aide of Writer's Blocks - except reading their comments here.

Robert Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prize Winner, Author, and Screenwriter,
Good Scent from a Strange Mountain
I
have long made crucial use of index cards in my writing,
both for novels and screenplays. I was thrilled to discover
Writer's Blocks. It is a brilliant software program,
not only taking over all that I'd previously done with
pen and card but actually opening up new and richly
productive possibilities. Writer's Blocks is now an
indispensable part of my creative process.
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Wes Craven, Director, Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream,
Scream 2, Music of the Heart
Congratulations
on your release of Writer's Blocks! It has refined an
already impressive tool that continues to make my life
a lot easier in the process of organizing, analyzing
and digesting scripts. Right now I'm using it in pre-production
on FIFTY VIOLINS [MUSIC OF THE HEART], a feature film
starring Madonna [Meryl Streep] which we will begin
shooting here in New York in a few weeks. I use Writer's
Blocks continuously while working with our writer. It
affords an easy way to refer to the script during discussions,
with jumping back and forth by scores of pages raising
no problem. Further, its color capacity allows me to
instantly see which scenes are related, either by character,
process or by time. It's visually elegant and also simply
a lot of fun to use. Thanks for the help!
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William Diehl, Author, Primal Fear, Reign
in Hell, Sharkey's Machine
What
a great tool for any writer! Using multicolored blocks
you can outline by chapter, move chapters around and
they automatically renumber, run blocks on characters,
locations, descriptions, options, etc., in different
colored blocks without interfering with the chapter
numbering, zoom in on the individual block and write
to your heart's content then zoom back out and get a
continuous picture of the work in progress or print
it out in color. [Ashley Software] has listened to writers
and made remarkable additions and changes to the original
program and still left options for the writer to customize
the program to fit his or her individual requirements.
I start my writing day by reviewing "The Block"
and end it by updating it. It has become as necessary
a part of my daily writing routine as my word processing
program. BRAVO!
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Jim Thomas, Producer/Co-Writer, Executive Decision,
Predator
In
my opinion one of the greatest tools screenwriters can
use to organize their ideas, acts, story points, gags,
sequences, characters, backstory, et cetera, is the
humble file card. WRITERS BLOCKS has electrified
the file card. Ive found your program easy to
install, simple to understand  and for anyone
familiar with a computer, really no more complicated
to use than a file card and a pencil. Ive also
discovered that Writers Blocks in its printed
outline form is very effective and impressive in pitch
and development meetings. On a final note, the electronic
record of the notes, ideas, and development process
of my screenplays is far easier to store, and find,
than a stack of handwritten file cards, thanks to Writers
Blocks.
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Howard M. Gould, Executive Producer, Cybill; Writer, Home Improvement; Screenwriter, Mr. 3000;
I've
always been an index card guy, using different colors
on a giant corkboard to beat out a story. Writer's Blocks
helps me do everything I did with cards and much more,
then lets me transfer the finished outline easily to
my word processing program. I use it for everything
from massive screenplay outlines to tiny scene restructurings.
Plus it let me get rid of the corkboard and put up something
nicer to look at.
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Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo and Nebula award-winning author ofHominids, The Terminal Experiment,
Mindscan
I'm not by nature a linear writer, and plotting is difficult for me. But Writers' Blocks
lets me see all my story elements graphically, and shuffle them round until order emerges from the chaos. It's a brilliant tool, simple to use, endlessly powerful, and an indispensable part of my toolkit. I recommend it highly.
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Lawrence Riggins, Screenwriter, Replicant", UCLA Visiting Professor

I’ve been using Writer’s Blocks since their inception and have enjoyed every moment.
The program is creative, educational, practical, professional, and fun!--Creative: One key to creativity is smoothly passing from improvisation to structure, and
the blocks enable the writer to play with ideas and move these passages to fill the outline. The PROBLEM of writing
a full-length screenplay becomes the FUN of playing with a puzzle. --Educational: As a professor I believe in
strict story structure and plotting. These requirements often overwhelm students, but Writers Blocks enables
them to transition smoothly from left-brain to right-brain and back again. --Practical and Professional: By
converting from Blocks Mode to Outline Mode, improvisation and freewriting become solid passages for a full outline or
a story treatment. -Fun: See “Creative” above. Finally, a little secret: I put the “Number of Columns” mode on “7”
and plan my week! Writers Blocks prevents writer’s block.

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